Peter Kent succumbs to Harper flesh-eating disease

It's a pretty big deal for any member of the Conservative backbench to have the prime minister in town. The locals come out to see him. It can generate a lot of partisan momentum.

So maybe Yukon Tory Ryan Leef was just a little over-excited when he got a little tongue-tied during his introduction for Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Carcross, Yukon on Monday night.

Leef's stump speech stumbled as he introduced Harper as the "prime minister of cannibal."

We've heard Harper described as aggressive and strategic, but this would take things to an entirely new level.

The actual prime minister of Canada took it all in stride and carried on, effusive in his praise for the rookie Yukon MP's work.

"You've confirmed some rumours about me, I think," Harper joked.

UPDATE: What's that old saying about "First time it's funny, second time it's silly..."?

On Wednesday Environment Minister Peter Kent - a veteran broadcaster in his life before politics - succumbed to the subliminal powers of Leef's suggestion that Harper eats his own.

During Kent's introduction for Harper's national park announcement in Norman Wells, N.W.T. the environment minister repeated the gaffe when he too botched his lines: calling his boss "the prime minister of cannibal" for the second time this week.

Kent explained his mental miscue by saying that Leef had just told him how he had goofed up.

For his part, Harper had his line ready, again. "So I hear my reputation precedes me."

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About the Author

Janyce McGregor joined the CBC's Parliamentary Bureau in 2001, after three seasons as a rookie television producer for Studio 2 on TVOntario. In 2005, she followed her then-doctoral student husband to the U.K., where she worked for BBC World Service Radio in London... thus scoring a public broadcaster hat trick for her resumé. Janyce is originally a farm girl from southwestern Ontario. Her most important job title is "Mom."